RYA Safety Advisory Notice

The information may be obvious to experienced sailors but could be invaluable to lesser mortals like Nick Milligan and his unfortunate family http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-25948960.

Only if he didn't know that he should wear a kill cord, which is clearly not the case as he was wearing it while he was driving. I don't think we can conclude that Mrs Milligan didn't know about kill-cords either - she'd done a PB2 course and was described as a "conscientious and attentive student".

The MAIB report suggests that she didn't put the cord on because she was intending to simply trundle a couple of hundred yards back to their mooring at slow speed. I guess that's outside the letter of the RYA's advice (wear it at all times) but hardly reckless behaviour. Then the rest of the family demanded one more run, and off they went, forgetting that the cord wasn't attached. Preparing for one course of action and then changing plan on the fly to do something else - it's a common theme in accident reports. Have you ever set off to motor round to a different anchorage in calm weather, so you don't bother stowing the boat for sea, then you decide it's a nice day and you might as well have a little sail, you heel over and all the un-stowed washing-up goes flying? I know I've done that more than once.

Using the publicity of the Padstow accident to educate those who habitually don't wear killcords is a good thing. But more publicity wouldn't have helped the Milligans - they already knew.

Pete
 
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